No Rules
by NotebookNinja
Summary: Seeing as there is no internet, no TV and no phone signal, a new form of entertainment has been arranged at Coates Academy. Street fights. Sayoko is currently the undisputed champion of these little 'games', but when a boy with certain violent tendencies strolls onto the scene, how will she hold up to that title? Set in the time between Gone and Hunger. Oneshot.


**Disclaimer: The only character I own here is Sayoko. I don't own the Gone series. If I did, Drake/Brittney would be separable, and at least one character would've become a ninja. Yes, a ninja.**

**Hell, even the cover design's a rip-off. **

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It was hard to tell, from her small stature, her liquorice-coloured hair and her caramel-coloured eyes, that she was anything but a sweet Japanese pixie. She was, however, quite lethal. This was being proven as she dodged to the inside of Frederico's punch, wrapped her knee behind his own, and jammed an elbow into his throat. She used the backwards force to flip him with her free hand over her knee. He landed on his face against the tarmac.

Usually, once she had her opponent on the floor, it would've been an easy win. But by the time she had moved in on her advantage, Freddie had disappeared.

There were some shocked noises made by the crowd.

"Screw the rules, Sayoko," Freddie's voice came from behind her. "You're a tough chick to beat."

There weren't many rules to these kinds of fights, the fights that had been organized as entertainment up at Coates, but there was one. No weapons. That included freak powers.

"Fine," said Sayoko, her tone as laid back as chimes in the wind. Her melodic voice again gave the impression that she was less vicious than she could be.

Muttering erupted from the onlookers. They had gathered, as normal, in the teacher's parking lot around the back of the school. It wasn't often that Sayoko agreed to the no-rule policy, but she thought that this time she could deal with a decent opponent. Even if he was a freak.

Sayoko felt Freddie's attack from behind her and grabbed his arm and twisted it. She used the momentum from his assault to floor him once again.

A combination of her brother and her father had shown her how to fight. The latter taught Aikido classes back in Sayoko's hometown and the other worked as a bouncer. Between the two of them, they had seen more than a few fights and had managed to teach Sayoko all she might need to know. She knew it had helped her more than once since being committed to Coates Academy.

Frederico used his freaky power yet again to avoid Sayoko's final move. As much as the surrounding kids liked the entertainment, they despised anyone who used freakishness so blatantly. Angry and outright offensive jeers rose from the restless onlookers. Sayoko wouldn't have been surprised if they had all piled on Freddie before he had another chance to move. It had happened to kids before.

After Sayoko successfully landed a blow or two more on Freddie, the Coates kids became infuriated with his evasive tactics and jumped him.

Sayoko didn't fight the grin as she took the chance for a breather. Although she preferred to finish off her own opponent, she still found it mildly amusing to watch Frederico getting beat on. He was always such a presumptuous kid, almost but not quite one of Caine's little underlings.

Nursing her joints, Sayoko heard a pair of feet approaching from behind. They came, carelessly loud across the blacktop from the direction of the school.

"What the hell's going on here?" yelled a familiarly angry voice. A sonic boom cracked the air in two, gathering everyone's attention. Sayoko didn't turn around.

The crowd of kids in the parking lot bunched together suddenly, like herded sheep. Freddie's bruised face could be seen in between two others.

"Just the fights, man," one brave boy managed to call.

Sayoko wasn't surprised that the fights had attracted the attention of what people called 'the big-shots'. Back when Caine was in charge, he had frequently arrived to break them up. But now Caine was raving mad in a bedroom somewhere, and Drake was in control. Drake, who probably hadn't split up a fight in his life.

"Blame her, she organizes this stuff," Freddie pointed towards Sayoko, and everyone's eyes followed. She was standing a few feet apart from the crowd, small and still breathing heavily, tousled black fringe falling into her eyes. She didn't look like someone who would start a scrap. "She always wins as well," Frederico added.

These words earned Drake's notice. As Sayoko blew the fringe from her eyes, she saw that his soulless blue gaze was trained on her.

"Want to find out what a _real_ fight's like?" he challenged, advancing towards her.

The kids around Freddie spread out into a ring.

Sayoko could easily see that she was two thirds of Drake's height, and that he was a hell of a lot stronger than her. But that had never been an issue before. No, what bothered her the most was the pinkish-coloured whip that appeared to be moulded onto his right arm. The fact that he would be so fervently eager to use it unsettled Sayoko greatly.

On the other hand, no kid standing in the parking lot right then had ever seen her back down. If she did, although she doubted Drake would let her, she had a pretty clear idea of what people's reactions would be. Besides, the idea of taking on Drake _Merwin_ had this strange allure to it. Sayoko figured her answer was mostly based on her damned pride.

"Fine," she said, in the same way she had accepted Freddie's no-rule request.

"I bet that's the only word she knows in English," sniggered a snotty twelve-year-old.

"I know 'fuck off' as well," Sayoko turned on him, lips lifting snidely.

"Ooh, what a badass we have here," said Drake mockingly.

"Did Diana teach you that sarcasm?" Sayoko retorted, knowing that just mentioning the girl's name would spark something off inside Drake.

It did.

The whip struck, the very tip just lashing her cheek and drawing a line of blood on her face. Drake grinned wickedly, cruel eyes shining.

"You a freak?" he then asked, taking a step towards her. Sayoko took a step back, keeping the distance between them. The circle adjusted itself accordingly.

"Would you pussy out if I was?" taunted Sayoko.

"You wish," Drake growled.

The gap between them closed. Sayoko waited for Drake to make the first move. She was surprised, despite everything she had known about the boy, at how strong he really was. It was a ruthless kind of strength, a merciless one that left Sayoko dazed even though she had caught his blow. She twisted, like she had been taught, attempting to flip him over. Although she just about managed it, Drake's resistance slowed the whole move down and so he was able to spring back up onto his feet.

Sayoko's muscles ached with each frenzied blow. Her joints felt like they had been pried apart with pliers and sweat ran freely down her arms and her neck. Within minutes, she was exhausted.

The whip cracked several times, but Sayoko either stayed out of range or darted in so close it was useless to Drake.

At one point, she found herself on her knees, and then she felt the hard point of a gun being wedged between her shoulder blades. But this wasn't the first time Sayoko had been in this position, it had happend to her during practice. Before Drake could even click the safety, she had sprung up and disarmed him. The gun spun away beneath the feet of their audience, and Sayoko panted heavily against Drake, aware that her last move had sapped her energy.

She hadn't known that Drake had had a gun on him, and judging by their faces, neither had the crowd. Why were they so surprised? It was Drake. None of them jumped the blonde psychopath, however, not like they had with Freddie. In this fight, there really weren't any rules.

Her opponent wasn't half as tired as she was, and so with his next strike Sayoko attempted to floor him like she had Frederico, to end it. Only, the whip of Drake's right hand wrapped around her thigh and dragged her down with him. They turned into a wrestling tangle of fists and legs and nails. Sayoko gave up her calculated fighting style and merely _lashed out _at the boy on top of her.

She felt the strange, muscular whip encircle her waist and then she was being flung into the crowd. The Coates kids all backed away hurriedly. Landing with the side of her face against the tarmac, Sayoko felt a burning sensation as her injured cheek was grazed. She didn't have time to wipe the grit from her wound, though, because one daring kid picked her up and flung her back into the fight.

Her head spinning, her energy completely shattered, Sayoko could barely defend as Drake drew back his right arm and struck her. The whip sliced open the skin on her own arm, a thick red gash that welled with blood. She hissed in pain as she fell down. Just the force from the blow, along with her weakened state, was enough to knock her to the ground.

Drake sent a sharp kick into her shoulder, making her fall flat against the tarmac. She hadn't the willpower to get up. Sayoko could do nothing but roll away as the whip attempted to rain down on her. She wouldn't let it, even though she was at the end of her tether, _this close _to giving up.

Just as she closed her eyes, just as she was about to stop rolling and give in to the darkness and the pain, Sayoko heard a girl's voice yell out from the direction of the school building.

"_Drake_!" the girl shrieked, and there was no doubting that it was Diana running forwards. "For God's sake _stop_, you evil, sadistic piece of-"

Her sentence was cut off by the loud sonic boom of Drake's whip, and then several gasps from the surrounding kids. Sayoko had flinched, thinking the arm would be brought down on her, but she never felt it.

"Stay away from me, you bitch," Sayoko heard Drake's menacing tone from behind her closed eyes.

She heard Diana goading Drake some more, heard the scattering of the kids as two sets of feet pounded against the tarmac. Sayoko breathed out raggedly, insanely grateful that Drake's attention was now elsewhere. She was also aware that Diana may have just saved her from a fate worse than death.

Someone pulled Sayoko off the floor and dragged her to the nurse's old office. Ironically, she thought it may have been Freddie. A black girl was sat in the office, and as Sayoko opened her eyes again for the first time, she thought she vaguely remembered her name. Lauren or Lily or…no, it was Louise. All Sayoko knew was that the girl could drive, and that apparently her mother was a doctor. Because of what her mother had taught her, Louise insisted that she could do stitches. Sayoko had seen what the girl had done to other people's injuries, and was almost against having such a thing done to her arm. Still, she thought, too tired to protest, it was better than having a long, gaping scar in her skin forever.

"All done," Louise said after a long while, blood nestling in the creases of the skin on her fingers. "Now go get cleaned up. You stink."

Sayoko all but crawled up to her dorm room, and the bathroom beyond. The lukewarm shower did nothing to alleviate the pain, but it did manage to wash away the daze she was in.

Dressing in fresh clothes, Sayoko was just towelling her hair dry when there was a knock at her door. Mildly apprehensive, she dropped the towel and opened it, one fist clenched.

Diana stood on the other side. There was a thin red welt running from her jaw down her throat. Sayoko had no idea how she had managed to fend off Drake, but she knew it couldn't have been easy.

"Thank you," Sayoko said, but her words only received a slap around the face. It was quick and harsh, causing beads of blood to swell from her grazes.

"You stupid bitch," Diana said disgustedly. "Don't you ever start a fight again."

The start of a smile curled on the edge of Sayoko's lips.

"I really won't be," she said.

Diana then shoved a packet of something into Sayoko's hand, before sweeping off down the corridor. Staring down at her palm, Sayoko saw that she was holding a packet of crackers, with just a few of the squares left in the bottom. Food was so scarce at Coates these days, it felt like Diana had just handed her a bar of gold.

Sayoko tried to eat them slowly, but they were all gone before she knew it. Discarding the empty packet, she made her way around the school to the front hall. There wasn't one part of her that didn't ache fiercely, but she knew that if she stopped moving, all her muscles would cramp up.

Just as she finished descending the stairs, she sighted a familiar figure leaning against the banister. She stopped suddenly, intending to turn around, but her sneakers caused a loud scuffing sound against the carpet.

The blonde-haired boy looked up, the ghost of his former rage lingering behind his cold eyes. The whip mark on Sayoko's forearm burned.

"Wasn't a bad fight back there," said Drake. "From a girl, that is."

Sayoko blinked. Had that been a compliment? Backhanded thought it may have been, Sayoko was still utterly shocked. Drake seemed oblivious to her reaction, however. Instead, he plucked a gun from the waistband of his jeans and flicked the safety a few times. He held it up.

"Do you know how to use one of these?" he then asked.

"No," said Sayoko.

"You're going to need to," Drake told her.

"Why?" she asked.

"Because I need some kids to raid Ralph's with me," said Drake. His eyes gleamed with malicious intent, and his face split into a shark-like smile. "Get ready."

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**A/N: I wrote this a little way back, but only just uploaded it for some reason. I hope you like my oneshot for Gone! Please review! There's nothing I like more than hearing a reader's opinion, even if it is a rant! Thanks for reading. :) **


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